Humans are Nearly Halfway to Wrecking the Planet

Jan 17, 2015 08:20 AM ET
By Patrick J. Kiger      
 
Toxic algae blooms, such as this one in Lake Erie in 2014, are one sign that human’s are exceeding “planetary boundaries” that keep the Earth hospitable to life, according to a new study.
 
Humans are nearly halfway to damaging the environment so gravely that the Earth will cease to be a “safe operating space” for our species, reports a just-published article in the journal Science.

The paper, which is the work of an international team of 18 scientists headed by Will Steffen of the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Australian National University in Canberra, reports that four of nine “planetary boundaries” have been crossed as the result of human activity, meaning that we’re in big trouble in those areas.

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